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Hey all! Never dreamed my poor sister would be in this situation, but here we are. Legally, they've been married throughout 2024 due to delays in mediation; wondering what your overall opinion on 2024 tax filing might be? She has NO income; she has a number of auto-immune diseases that have destroyed her life's quality. Should she file joint or file alone? She *will* ultimately have assets, but what might she be missing if she files joint? We greatly appreciate any good info? Thanks!

I don't think she'll miss anything and it may be beneficial. Does she have a tax person or use a service? We filed jointly when we were married, but then filed single after the D was final.

But I'm not a tax person but hopefully somebody else will pitch in.

If they were still legally married on December 31st, 2024, then she should file jointly. There are some tax benefits for joint filers. The implication of your question seems to be, does how your sister files her 2024 tax return change her divorce settlement in any way? It shouldn't. The only thing that occurs to me is how any tax liability/refund is handled. If the tax liability is still unpaid or a refund hasn't been received as of the date the separation agreement becomes binding, then the settlement agreement should clearly set forth how much each of them is liable for or how much each will receive if there is a refund. If there is money owed the IRS and her STBX husband is liable for any amount, one thing your sister should try and do is make sure the STBX husband's portion has been paid in full before the divorce is final. Joint filers are joint and severally liable for the full tax liability. If his share hasn't been paid in full, then that amount should be set aside and earmarked to settle all tax liabilities. This applies to both state and federal tax liabilities.

The AARP Foundation will do her taxes if she's close to an AARPF 'tax aide' site. There are other groups that offer the same service, but I don't know their names or contact info. I believe the program is called 'tax aide' by the IRS. Searching on that term is likely to surface the other organiztions that do returns for free. Tax Aides are limited in what they can do, however, so it's important for your sister to know all about 2024 income and expenses to make sure the return is not out of scope.

She qualifies to file as M jointly or separately, and AARP will run both scenarios, if she asks for that. My bet is that they'll pay a good deal less if she files jointly. The hitch is that both partners have to sign, and it's best if both partners go to the Tax Aide site together; in fact, some tax aide sites require them to be together to file a joint return.

There also are web-based no-charge tax return sites. I've used freetaxusa for years without problems.

She should get legal advice on this issue BUT I would think joint returns would imply her financial dependency on her soon-to-be-ex (who is legally her husband until the judge swings the gavel).
This could be to her advantage as far as spousal support might go.

But... legal advice, not online advice...

If she has no income whatsoever, there'd be no monetary gain or loss filing separately. Only her husband would gain benefit financially. However, if he should get a refund, she might not be entitled to half. She should definitely speak to both her D attorney and a financial consultant to find out if there are any consequences.
In my case, I had significant income, but I'd claimed 0 exemptions so had a healthy refund coming to me. My ex, OTOH, hadn't paid taxes on over 6 figures and would end up owing A LOT! Filing jointly would have reduced how much he owed the IRS by thousands of $$. I put it in the divorce paperwork that we would be filing separately and that neither could share in any refund or debt for each other's individual taxes. I think he paid somewhere to the tune of $18G that year. I'm a petty B like that, though. I discussed it first with my attoeney and then my financial consultant to get the whole picture first.